Product Review (submitted on March 9, 2009):

Well I took the plunge and ordered 60 of the white 100 Matador Series Plaques from EuroPokerChips.com. I plan on drafting a full review (haven't done one in a while), but they arrived today and I wanted to pass on my initial thoughts:

Shipping: Very fast. My order was placed on Sunday and they arrived on Wednesday via Priority Mail.

Packing: Good. My plaques were shipped in a flat-rate Priority Mail box. Each individual plaque was inside a plastic bag and everything had newspaper around it. All of the plaques arrived in good condition.

Appearance/Look: Very Good. The plaques look just like the pictures on the EuroPokerChips website. I worked late tonight, have to go in early tomorrow, and will not be back home until Friday evening (I have duty tomorrow) so, as much as everyone will hate me, I will not be able to post my own pictures until this weekend sometime. Sorry. Overall they are very nice. The topside of the plaques is exactly as pictured while the underside has a "Made in China" sticker (which I will definitely remove) and "EuroPokerChips.com" which is permanently adhered to the plaque in the same manner as the topside graphics (silk-screened perhaps?).

Feel: Very Good. These are acrylic plaques so they are smooth to the touch and very hard. Very similar to Matsui plaques if you are familiar with them.

Weight: Very good. I do not have a scale so I will estimate they weigh around 40 grams or similar to four of my Blue Chip Desert Palms.

Handling: Very good. They feel nice in my hands.

Stacking: OK. Probably not much worse than Matsui plaques. As previously stated, these are acrylic plaques and, as such, are very smooth. You can substitute smooth for slippery; however, the Matador's are no worse than my Matsui's in terms of stacking and or overall handling. They are pretty much identical in fact. There is some amount of "spinner" effect as with chips, but stacks of 10 high are no problem and I don't think their playability will suffer.

Price: Outstanding. Matsui plaques of the same size and quality are 10 to 12 times more expensive.

Appeal: Very good. Although the overall design is somewhat minimalist and simple, I think this is a benefit. I find their design to be clean and suitable for use with almost any set of chips you may have. I cannot imagine how they could "clash" with any of the chips on the market.

Value: Exceptional. Again, for the price they are in a league of their own.

Final Thoughts: I like them and am very impressed overall. I only ordered the 100 white plaques to begin with as I wanted to see what I thought of them before ordering more. Based on what I know now, I fully anticipate ordering several hundred more of these in at least some quantify of each denomination offered. I have always wanted to use plaques for my home game, but have never been able to figure out how to make a 5K or 25K plaque work. Here is my solution. I can't wait to see how they do in a real game, but, if things go well, I will not have to wait more than three days.

More to follow . . . (Posted on 1/31/10)